Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

Mahito now completely understood how Hajime Kashimo had felt in the original story. Kashimo could grant his opponents Cursed Energy charges, and this method had never failed him in battle. Yet when he met Kinji Hakari, he had nearly blown Hakari's head apart with those charges—only for Hakari, upon noticing them, to vent through his mouth and forcibly expel Kashimo's Cursed Energy. Even that battle-hardened ancient sorcerer had been dumbfounded.

Mahito was in the same situation now. His Cursed Energy had accumulated within Kinji Hakari's body, yet he could not activate it. The moment he did, Hakari would expel it. His prized killing move had been nullified in such an absurd way.

"You really are a cast-iron pot, Kinji!" Mahito taunted loudly.

Veins throbbed across Kinji Hakari's forehead. Mahito caught it sharply and sprang backward. Hakari's fist swung upward. He was clearly still dizzy, but perhaps the prolonged dizziness had allowed the Reverse Cursed Technique to accumulate experience. During this fight, the Automatic Reverse Cursed Technique had evolved through learning.

It was like when Hajime Kashimo had tried to poison him with toxic gas in the original story. Without understanding the principle at all, his Automatic Reverse Cursed Technique had evolved. From then on, it had recorded a "detoxification program."

By the same logic, the Automatic Reverse Cursed Technique had now recorded dizziness. From now on, Kinji Hakari would never be "dizzy" again while immortal! "Come on, Lord of Curses! Let's continue!" Kinji Hakari rose and charged Mahito with surging Cursed Energy.

As Mahito flew backward, he suddenly leaped into the air. He spread his arms, feathers growing from them. Idle Transfiguration: Giant Eagle! His entire body became a giant eagle. Kinji Hakari's fist missed again, and the giant eagle raked its claws down at Hakari's back, nearly tearing through his spine.

But the surging Cursed Energy quickly healed him. Kinji Hakari turned his head, only to find not the giant eagle's claws but the jaws of a black wolf. Idle Transfiguration: Black Wolf!

The black wolf leaped and tore at Kinji Hakari. Hakari tried to kick it away, but as it rolled, the wolf transformed again—into a python. The python coiled around Hakari's legs, its fangs piercing his knee!

Tiger, eagle, wolf, snake. Bull, crocodile, rhinoceros, bear.

In terms of combat skill, Kinji Hakari far surpassed Mahito, who had no fighting experience. Yet that experience could not give Hakari an advantage. Against Mahito's endless transformations, Hakari could not find a rhythm at all. Whenever he tried to counterattack, Mahito would transform into another beast before he could, resetting the battle all over again.

Even giving it everything he had, Kinji Hakari could only barely avoid defeat. There simply was no enemy like this anywhere in the world.

Mahito fought Kinji Hakari with complete focus, giving it everything he had! He grew increasingly proficient with Idle Transfiguration, transforming faster and faster until it became dazzling. Hakari tried several times to seize him after a transformation, but failed every time. Amid those transformations, Mahito drew ever closer to his core.

The final transformation was a bear!

The largest brown bear in the world—the Kodiak Bear. Standing upright, it exceeded three meters in height and weighed a full thousand kilograms! Cursed Energy wrapped around the brown bear's entire body as its paws descended like a storm.

Kinji Hakari blocked with both arms. The brown bear's paw smashed across him, sending Hakari flying into the sky like a child whipping a spinning top with a copper-headed belt. The bones in his arms broke and healed in an endless cycle. He spun through the air before finally landing on his shoulder and rolling two or three times across the ground before stopping.

He lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, then looked up.

The brown bear's fur slowly receded until Mahito's original form emerged. Not a single wound marked his body. His strong, defined muscles rose and fell slowly with his breathing, sweat trickling down through the gaps between them and seeming to gleam under the night lights.

A diamond-shaped, droplet-like marking had appeared beside his cheek. Kinji Hakari noticed it sharply, because it had not been there before. It only appeared when Mahito returned to his original form. Could it reveal the secret of his technique?

The theme song abruptly stopped. "The immortality duration has ended. Four minutes and eleven seconds are over!"

Yet Mahito did not seize the chance to attack. Looking down at Kinji Hakari from above, he asked mildly, "Have you had enough, Kinji?"

Kinji Hakari got up and adjusted his breathing. As he rose, he rolled his neck, and his cervical vertebrae crackled sharply.

Though he had been suppressed, there was no unease on Kinji Hakari's face. Everyone with an immortal body shared the same bad habit: they were accustomed to taking their opponent's opening attacks with their own bodies. Because they were immortal, they did not care about winning or losing the first exchange. What came afterward was the counterattack.

Kinji Hakari was the same. And now, he was going to counterattack. He had already grown used to Mahito's endless transformations. What came next would be the real contest!

"My technique is Probability Manipulation," Kinji Hakari said. Technique disclosure!

"As long as probability is involved, I can record the number of failures. No matter what kind of gamble it is, I can make it succeed within thirty tries." Kinji Hakari said, "And not only that, my technique is linked to my condition. If I'm in peak condition—"

He raised both hands into a hand sign. "—then I can seize strength with luck!" Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble!

The entire rooftop was engulfed by a train station. The animated sequence of Idle Death Gamble began again! Kinji Hakari split his lips in a demonic grin.

"Unfortunately for you, I'm in peak condition right now. I predict that the chance of hitting the Jackpot is—10000%!!"

The display board showed the first reel spinning: Third Girl! The second reel spun: Third Girl! —Reach! The illusory male lead rushed onto the platform, panting. The final reel spun—

From the door on the other side, a female character suddenly ran out. It was... Second Girl!

Third Girl, Third Girl, Second Girl. No Jackpot?

Kinji Hakari's pupils contracted. He could clearly feel that he was in peak condition, so why had he not hit the Jackpot??

But the surging Cursed Energy quickly healed him. Kinji Hakari turned his head, only to find not the giant eagle's claws but the jaws of a black wolf. Idle Transfiguration: Black Wolf!

The black wolf leaped and tore at Kinji Hakari. Hakari tried to kick it away, but as it rolled, the wolf transformed again—into a python. The python coiled around Hakari's legs, its fangs piercing his knee!

Tiger, eagle, wolf, snake. Bull, crocodile, rhinoceros, bear.

In terms of combat skill, Kinji Hakari far surpassed Mahito, who had no fighting experience. Yet that experience could not give Hakari an advantage. Against Mahito's endless transformations, Hakari could not find a rhythm at all. Whenever he tried to counterattack, Mahito would transform into another beast before he could, resetting the battle all over again.

Even giving it everything he had, Kinji Hakari could only barely avoid defeat. There simply was no enemy like this anywhere in the world.

Mahito fought Kinji Hakari with complete focus, giving it everything he had! He grew increasingly proficient with Idle Transfiguration, transforming faster and faster until it became dazzling. Hakari tried several times to seize him after a transformation, but failed every time. Amid those transformations, Mahito drew ever closer to his core.

The final transformation was a bear!

The largest brown bear in the world—the Kodiak Bear. Standing upright, it exceeded three meters in height and weighed a full thousand kilograms! Cursed Energy wrapped around the brown bear's entire body as its paws descended like a storm.

Kinji Hakari blocked with both arms. The brown bear's paw smashed across him, sending Hakari flying into the sky like a child whipping a spinning top with a copper-headed belt. The bones in his arms broke and healed in an endless cycle. He spun through the air before finally landing on his shoulder and rolling two or three times across the ground before stopping.

He lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, then looked up.

The brown bear's fur slowly receded until Mahito's original form emerged. Not a single wound marked his body. His strong, defined muscles rose and fell slowly with his breathing, sweat trickling down through the gaps between them and seeming to gleam under the night lights.

A diamond-shaped, droplet-like marking had appeared beside his cheek. Kinji Hakari noticed it sharply, because it had not been there before. It only appeared when Mahito returned to his original form. Could it reveal the secret of his technique?

The theme song abruptly stopped. "The immortality duration has ended. Four minutes and eleven seconds are over!"

Yet Mahito did not seize the chance to attack. Looking down at Kinji Hakari from above, he asked mildly, "Have you had enough, Kinji?"

Kinji Hakari got up and adjusted his breathing. As he rose, he rolled his neck, and his cervical vertebrae crackled sharply.

Though he had been suppressed, there was no unease on Kinji Hakari's face. Everyone with an immortal body shared the same bad habit: they were accustomed to taking their opponent's opening attacks with their own bodies. Because they were immortal, they did not care about winning or losing the first exchange. What came afterward was the counterattack.

Kinji Hakari was the same. And now, he was going to counterattack. He had already grown used to Mahito's endless transformations. What came next would be the real contest!

"My technique is Probability Manipulation," Kinji Hakari said. Technique disclosure!

"As long as probability is involved, I can record the number of failures. No matter what kind of gamble it is, I can make it succeed within thirty tries." Kinji Hakari said, "And not only that, my technique is linked to my condition. If I'm in peak condition—"

He raised both hands into a hand sign. "—then I can seize strength with luck!" Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble!

The entire rooftop was engulfed by a train station. The animated sequence of Idle Death Gamble began again! Kinji Hakari split his lips in a demonic grin.

"Unfortunately for you, I'm in peak condition right now. I predict that the chance of hitting the Jackpot is—10000%!!"

The display board showed the first reel spinning: Third Girl! The second reel spun: Third Girl! —Reach! The illusory male lead rushed onto the platform, panting. The final reel spun—

From the door on the other side, a female character suddenly ran out. It was... Second Girl!

Third Girl, Third Girl, Second Girl. No Jackpot?

Kinji Hakari's pupils contracted. He could clearly feel that he was in peak condition, so why had he not hit the Jackpot??

"Cursed Technique Reversal." Mahito sighed softly. "Soul Creation."

This was the Cursed Technique Reversal Mahito had newly learned as a "half-Cursed Spirit." Just as his theory had predicted, since the technique of a Cursed Spirit was one that reshaped souls, the reversed form of that soul-altering technique produced—

The creation of souls: Soul Creation!

The diamond marking on his cheek gradually vanished, as though an eraser had rubbed it away.

This was Haruta Shigemo's Innate Technique, Luck Storage! Haruta Shigemo could gather the insignificant bits of luck from everyday life. When danger came, he could consume those tiny pieces of luck to gain the greatest possible chance of survival. The diamond marking on Mahito's cheek represented the luck he had gathered, and now, to prevent Kinji Hakari from being in peak condition, Mahito had used it all at once.

In truth, after all that luck had been consumed at once, Kinji Hakari had still managed to hit Reach. That was what truly shocked Mahito. He had tested it before: when he maintained Luck Storage and filled it to the maximum, even if Jogo's Maximum Technique came crashing down, he would still emerge completely unharmed.

Just how good was Kinji Hakari's condition, if he could still hit Reach even under such luck?

Mahito's Cursed Technique Reversal, Soul Creation, could endlessly record the souls he observed. If those souls possessed Innate Techniques, those techniques would be recorded as well. Whenever Mahito wished, he could extract and use them. Though its flaw was that only one Innate Technique could be used per activation, that was already enough.

Victory and defeat were often decided in an instant like this!

Sure enough, Kinji Hakari had been caught off guard and tricked.

"The nesting dolls of Domain Expansions are over, Kinji." Mahito smiled. "I won." Author's note.

Ancient Leaf's author's note: It suddenly got put behind a paywall!

That was probably because I'm used to writing large chapters, so even though it looks like there are only ten-plus chapters, it got paywalled. In any case, by convention, going premium means a major update. There will be another nearly six-thousand-character chapter later. This chapter itself is also over five thousand characters, so together they total more than ten thousand.

Please look forward to it!

Love Rendezvous!

Ember Insects!

Jogo formed a hand sign. Purple mosquitoes suddenly flew out from his volcano-shaped head. These purple insects carried astonishing Cursed Energy. They circled above Jogo's head before charging forward all at once. The corridor's air warped from the intense heat, and the purple insects carved visible heat ripples through the air as they flew, like miniature missiles. Heat and killing intent stabbed into Kirara Hoshi's eyes at once.

"Useless!" Kirara Hoshi shouted.

He remained standing motionless in place, yet he had already prepared for battle. Before the Ember Insects reached him, he had sensed their deadly threat, but he did not move. He stood rooted there like a towering pine.

The Ember Insects indeed did not reach him. The purple mosquitoes obeying Jogo suddenly turned around and charged back toward Jogo. Jogo's pupils widened as he unleashed the next move he had prepared.

"Ember Insects!" A second wave flew from his volcano head, rushing toward the returning Ember Insects. The two sides collided in midair and exploded in that instant!

Kirara Hoshi and Jogo both raised their hands before their eyes. The enormous heat wave blasted violently in every direction. With a roar, the corridor walls finally gave way and burst outward. Fire and lava shot from among the rubble, then the debris began to melt. Anyone watching from outside would have seen tiny fiery meteors shooting out of the Multi-story Parking Lot—the aftershock of the Ember Insects.

The next second brought flames!

Jogo released flames with a roar. This was the technique he excelled at most. The heat wave's high temperature whipped the surrounding air into a storm, and the flames advanced with that storm. At the same time, Jogo took a step forward.

The flames and the Cursed Spirit advanced at the same time—a double assault!

Jogo's body moved forward. His right foot lifted and stepped ahead. He was certain he was moving. His right foot landed, and his body shifted forward while maintaining balance. His left foot lifted, followed his body forward, his ankle moved, and it finally landed as well.

By both sensation and physical space, Jogo had undeniably taken one step forward.

His flames followed him like a boundless wall, pushing ahead. The outer tongues of fire touched the corridor floor and walls. The concrete gradually melted, its solid form destroyed by heat beyond its melting point, turning into golden-red lava as if a volcano were flowing, devastating everything!

Jogo strode forward with immense majesty, like a monarch. But suddenly, he stopped. Because neither he nor his flame technique had moved from their original positions.

The blazing flames nearly burned all the air from the corridor. Howling wind came through the hole blasted into the corridor, a backdraft phenomenon. The wind following the heat current swept up the Cursed Energy flames. Those flames burned quietly, illuminating Jogo's twisted face.

"Didn't I tell you?" Kirara Hoshi said calmly. "It's useless." "It's not over yet!" Jogo roared.

He suddenly punched toward the wall on the left side of the corridor. Before his fist could strike it, the flames' heat had already melted a large hole through the concrete. Jogo unleashed his technique with a roar, and enormous flames surged out from beyond the wall, like lava erupting from a volcano.

Kirara Hoshi mocked loudly, "What exactly are you aiming at?"

Suddenly, astonishing heat erupted beside him. He immediately turned his head. A dragon-like blaze appeared outside the corridor windows. The corridor glass had already begun to melt from the immense heat. The dragon of flame opened its mouth, which contained enough heat to melt steel. A mere touch would incinerate all things.

So the flames had not missed; they had circled around outside the corridor to attack!

If a frontal attack would not work, then he would attack from the side! Even a rare spatial control technique could not possibly be flawless; there had to be a weakness. Jogo judged that since he could not break through from the front no matter what, he would attack from the side, tear through the defense, bite the sorcerer, and kill him in one strike.

This flame technique attacked faster than even Kirara Hoshi's reflexes. It had approached before he noticed. In the next instant, he would be swallowed and burned—

—or so it should have been.

The flaming dragon's open jaws did not swallow Kirara Hoshi. Just as it neared him, it suddenly turned and crashed into the corridor in front of him. With a thunderous blast, the entire corridor before Kirara Hoshi exploded. Amid the deafening roar, the flaming dragon radiated terrifying heat as it flowed back, its target—

—the Cursed Spirit, Jogo!

"What...!?" Jogo's expression changed drastically.

This should not have happened! Every sorcerer needed to use their own will to activate a technique; even constantly active techniques worked that way. Jogo was certain Kirara Hoshi had not reacted to the flaming dragon just now. It had been a sneak attack and should have hit! Yet even so, the flaming dragon had failed to hit Kirara Hoshi and instead lunged back at Jogo as usual.

Jogo formed hand signs with both hands and canceled the technique as quickly as possible, but the flaming dragon was too fast and too sudden. The tangible blaze slammed into—

Jogo's body, engulfing him in his own Cursed Energy flames. Not only Jogo, even Hanami, who had been watching the battle behind him, failed to react in time and cried out.

Kirara Hoshi raised a hand in front of himself. The fiery shockwave spread in every direction like a massive tsunami. Though he had reinforced his palm with Cursed Energy, he still felt the sting of burns. Even with such a huge distance between them, the heat impact had injured him.

Forget being directly hit—even getting slightly closer would have burned him to ash! Kirara Hoshi unconsciously licked his lips. They had already cracked from the spreading excess thermal radiation. He could not imagine how hot the corridor had become. Without Cursed Energy protecting him, he suspected his clothes would already have ignited and his entire body would be covered in burns.

The impact weakened. Kirara Hoshi lowered his hand and suddenly froze. Jogo was completely unharmed.

The spirit of the earth stood where he was, both hands forming signs. Less than half a meter in front of him was a distinct arc. Beyond it, the concrete had melted into golden-red liquid. Behind it, the floor was charred black. Yet Jogo himself bore no scorch marks whatsoever.

"You could react to that too? That's ridiculous," Kirara Hoshi murmured. [Jogo, let me join in.] Hanami could not help saying.

Jogo took a deep breath. "No, Hanami. Preserve your Cursed Energy to deal with Infinite Cursed Energy." [But—]

"No buts!" Jogo shouted. "Even if I die, you are not allowed to make a move! Let me be clear: even if I die here, you cannot waste even a shred of Cursed Energy on this old human! After I die, you will step over my corpse and move forward. All your strength must be devoted to Mahito. Other than that, you are not allowed to do anything!"

Not only Hanami, even Kirara Hoshi, his enemy, was stunned.

A curse had actually spoken words declaring its resolve to die. Kirara Hoshi could hardly believe his ears. He could not help interjecting, "Are you really a curse?"

"What is it, old human?" Jogo sneered. "Did you think I would fear death, or that I would act without restraint?"

Kirara Hoshi sighed softly. "I underestimated you, Cursed Spirits." "Not Cursed Spirit—Jogo!" Jogo shouted.

"Then, Jogo, you should have a general understanding of my technique by now. No matter what you do, you cannot approach either me or the emergency exit. Once my technique is deployed, it continues operating even without my will. You cannot kill me, nor can you break through my technique. What will you do?" Kirara Hoshi smiled again.

Yes, what should he do? Jogo did not attack. Instead, he thought seriously.

Since the beginning, he had tried different methods to break through, but all had failed. Moving over himself—failure.

Using physical Ember Insects to break through—failure. Launching a Cursed Energy flame assault—failure.

Launching himself and his Cursed Energy flames together—failure.

Launching a sneak attack from the side at a speed even the sorcerer himself could not react to—failure